


Together, we can be stronger

by bluereadingdolphin



Category: Kaleidotrope (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Both of those aus apply here i promise, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, M/M, Rivalry, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:02:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28382154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluereadingdolphin/pseuds/bluereadingdolphin
Summary: Drew and Hal have been the proud owners of Kaleidotrope Coffee for a year now, establishing themselves as the only coffee shop in the area.Then a new bakery starts just down the road, which begins a halfhearted rivalry between the two.It all changes though, when a greater threat to their businesses arrives.
Relationships: Drew/Harrison (Kaleidotrope), Hal/Sam (Kaleidotrope)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Together, we can be stronger

**Author's Note:**

> Once again I tried to write a Harridrew fic that ended up being way more about Hal/Sam (or Semi Competent Sapphics As it has been decided that is their ship name)

From the outside, Kaleidotrope Coffee looks like all of the other buildings on the street. Red brick, slate roof, white door. The windows are wide - to catch the light, or something. It’s a carbon copy of everything else on it's row, aside from the sign which hangs over the door in a looping font. Inside, it looks a little different. 

All of the surfaces are a clean, polished chrome. The walls are pale grey, with a few dark blue accents along the top and bottom. Artistically arranged green plants trail their glossy leaves over the sides of silver pots. The coffee machines behind the thin sheet of the bar look like spaceship controls, and the sparse selection of baked goods is arranged in perfect pyramids. A white painted piano stands in the corner, unplayed since it was installed there.

It’s Hal who owns the building, technically. Her bright red hair and sarcastic smile can be found there most days too, pulling shots of espresso or piling on whipped cream. Drew did most of the design work though, and he’s somewhat insistent that they maintain the  _ aesthetic.  _ Hal doesn’t really care either way, but she puts up with it because he makes good coffee and they do have a  _ very _ loyal returning customer base. That could have more to do with the fact that there are very few other options in the immediate vicinity, but Drew insists it’s because they enjoy the brand. He’ll say this often, with his dark curls falling over his eyes and his blue eyes squinted in seriousness. Hal just shakes her head and moves to make herself another coffee. 

It's early in the morning. Hal will forever complain about it being too early, but she gets there on time to turn over the sign and watch Drew lay out the muffins and biscuits. The steady trickle of customers walking in and out of the doors has been slower today, for some reason. Most people who usually buy a cup of coffee and a cookie are buying a coffee to go and leaving, or walking straight past the doors. Drew has cleaned the counter four times and is currently glaring at the section right in front of him, scrubbing at it with a ferocity which seems a little unwarranted. 

"Drew?"

"Yes."

"The table hasn't done anything to hurt you, right? I don't need to go on a hunt for revenge?"

"What? No, obviously not."

"You can ease up on trying to clean a hole into it then." Hal puts down her coffee mug. "So what's up?"

"There's a new coffee place down the street. Or. Well, he calls it a  _ confectionery  _ store which is stupid, really." Drew reluctantly puts the cloth down. 

"He?" Hal tilts her head.

"The owner. Harrison." Drew's face is slightly red, and he's avoiding eye contact.

"Mmm. You got flustered, huh."

"Well I went to look - because they opened slightly earlier than us, and I needed to see what they were all about, right? Then I accidentally bought _samoas_ which I don't even like because he smiled at me and god it's _awful_ in there Hal. No colour pallet, everything is so _bright_ and the _music_ - it's all modern pop songs about love." Drew shudders. "You realise this has to mean war, right? He's stealing half of our customers!" Drew's hands are waving emphatically, which has drawn the attention of what few people are sitting down. They quickly return to what they were doing when he glares at them, however. Hal is shaking with silent laughter.

"You want to start a rivalry because you don't want to acknowledge that you think he's cute?"

" _ No. _ I'm not even starting a rivalry, I'm just. Looking out for  _ our _ business."

"Sure."

"I'm not!" Drew waves his hands again, glaring. Hal only shakes her head and goes to help the person who just walked in, still smiling. 

***

Drew does kind of have a point - the confectionery store Harrison has set up is somewhat garish.  _ Sweet Serendipity  _ is written over the door in red and white striped curls, and the door has been painted bubblegum pink. Inside is even worse, with every shelf painted a different colour of the rainbow - not in any kind of pattern, of course. The food is arranged haphazardly, which a sign on the counter declares is so that people can  _ "find what they're looking for by accident."  _ Something to do with a trope, or something. Whether it's because of that or because this is the newest store on the street, Sweet Serendipity has been drawing hordes of customers all day. 

Harrison and Sam (the only co-worker he has at the moment) have been run off their feet, taking orders and running to and from the back room. When they finally turn over the sign at the door and retreat into the back, Harrison sighs contentedly, running a hand through his shock of pink curls. His freckled face creases up into a broad smile, as he turns to look at Sam.

“We did it!” He pauses for a moment, and then claps his hands together. “We actually did it Sam! We opened! People liked the stuff we made!” He claps a few more times.

“We did.” Sam smiles softly, taking her hair out of it’s bun. It falls over her shoulders in dark waves as she sits down. “Proud of you dude.”

“You did some of it too!” Harrison falls down onto a beaten up sofa.

“This is your dream, bud. I’m mostly here to work the till. But I’m glad I could help you start it.”

Once tables have been wiped and the kitchen has (sort of) been tidied, up, Harrison speaks into the silence.    
“What did you think of the first guy who came in here?”   
“Who?” Sam answers, putting away a baking tray.

“Drew. I think he runs the other coffee shop.”   
“A bit weird really. I’m not the person you should be asking though, you know I don’t swing that way.”   
“Uh. Not  _ that _ . That’s not what I meant.”

“Absolutely, continue your serious business talk.”   
“Sam, shush. I was thinking we should send the people over there some pastries or something. As a gesture of goodwill - that's polite, right?”   
“And  _ not _ because you like him.”   
“I don’t  _ know  _ him, of course it’s not that.”   
“Definitely a trope though. Rival businesses.”

“Maybe.” Harrison looks away, and Sam grins knowingly. “Is it a good idea though? To let them know we’re chill?”   
“Sure, go ahead.” Sam shrugs. "Couldn't hurt, right?"

***

Hal and Drew part ways at the front of the coffee shop. Drew heads home (to write his blog, but he doesn't share that information freely), and Hal has  _ errands _ to run. Drew is never entirely sure what those errands are, but they're probably important, so he doesn't ask. 

Hal is going to buy pastries in bulk, as she does every day. Drew is convinced that they get them from a local bakery, but frankly that's not in the budget so she buys premade ones instead. The shop she buys them from is  _ also  _ the place she keeps seeing a cute girl in the baking supplies aisle, which is probably related to why she makes a point of going so often. And why she hasn't told Drew. Maybe one day she'll pull up the courage to ask her out. Or even say hello to her, really. It's not looking great for her dating prospects so far but who knows, maybe a miracle will happen.

The girl is there today too, putting bags of sugar into her cart. Hal takes a detour to walk past her, and gives an awkward smile. It's the only interaction they ever have, but it still fills Hal's stomach with a strange fluttering feeling. The person smiles back, as she always does, warm brown eyes creasing in a momentary expression of happiness. It passes soon though, as they pass each other and Hal starts to pile croissants into her cart.

It's later, when Hal starts wheeling her cart out of the aisle to pay that the moment comes. She trips, over something, nothing, anything. The floor is starting to look like her fate, and she turns her nose up at the piece of gum directly beneath her. Someone stops her fall though, with an arm wrapped around her shoulders to hold her up. It's baking supplies girl, who smiles her soft, melting smile again. 

"Sorry for grabbing you out of the blue like that, but I wanted to save you from the nightmare of the floor here." She helps Hal stand up straight and then drops her arm, scuffing a shoe against the floor, pulling a face. Hal already misses the feeling of her arm around her shoulders. She remembers how to speak quite suddenly and smiles.

"Uh, no worries. Thanks, I didn't really want to end up there either."

"Understandable. I'm Sam by the way. I've seen you here before, right?"

"I'm Hal, nice to meet you. And yeah, I think we've crossed paths before." They stand in silence for a moment, before Sam glances into her cart.

"That's…a lot of baked goods."

"Ah, they're not all for me unfortunately. I work at a coffee shop, we use them there."

"Wait - Kaleidotrope Coffee?"

"Yeah! That's the one, I co-run it with my friend Drew."

"I was wondering, you didn't really seem like you were going to be Drew from the description Harrison gave." Sam pauses, grinning. "I work at Sweet Serendipity. I'm pretty sure Harrison thinks Drew is cute." 

"Oh, I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual." Hal grins in response. "Should you have helped me then? Aren't we supposed to be rivals or something?"

"I mean, not unless you want to be." Sam gives another soft smile and Hal could swear she feels her heart do a backflip. "I was actually coming over here to ask if you'd like to get drinks sometime. If you're interested."

"Oh." Hal suddenly feels like she's floating, in a strange way. Sam continues before she can answer, however.

"If you don't that's, like, totally fine too. I mean, we just met properly even though I've seen you here a bunch of times while I fuel Harrison's mad baking experiments but this is probably really creepy just asking like this -"

"Sam. I'd love to. I've uh. Been trying to bring up the courage to ask too."

"Oh. Oh! That's good then."

"I'd say so, yeah."

"Should we...exchange numbers? So we can set a date?"

"Absolutely."

Hal gets home that night grinning at her phone, and with enough pastries to last them a week at least. There's not really a reason for her to go back every day now, right? 

***

Harrison leaves to drop the cookies off at the start of the next day, while Sam haphazardly places baked goods on the shelves. The cookies were good ones too - the same type Drew had bought the day before. Harrison had put them neatly into a little bag, and wandered down the street with a studiously bland expression. Sam had laughed at him, but let him go. A few minutes later, she'd received a text from Hal:

_ Hal: Harrison is here and they're lowkey flirting here we go _

_ Sam: took him long enough, he set off like five minutes ago _

_ Hal: oh Drew ffs why d'you gotta be like that _

_ Hal: he's being annoying because he doesn't wanna admit that he has  _ feelings

_ Hal: be prepared to comfort this isn't looking good _

_ Sam: oh damn _

_ Sam: I have a coffee ready  _

_ Hal: he's on his way now. See you tomorrow! _

_ Sam: see ya then _

Harrison comes storming into the shop about thirty seconds after Sam's last text, already looking angry enough that Sam feels worried. 

"So how'd it go?" Sam asks, leaning calmly against the counter.

"Terribly." Harrison answers, glaring. "He was so  _ rude _ ! I came to offer him  _ cookies  _ and all he did was grouch at me and make passive aggressive comments about the decor in here." He snatches up the coffee Sam slides towards him with a huff, as she smiles sympathetically. "It's  _ so _ boring in there. Everything is grey or dark blue. And the poor plants are pruned to within an inch of their lives." He pulls a face, glancing at the brightly flowering plant which stands proudly on the counter. Sam makes a noise of vague agreement. 

"That's it, I'm starting a rivalry with them."

"A...rivalry. Okay."

"We'll win."

"Win  _ what  _ exactly?"

"We're fighting for  _ honor  _ Sam. This is important."

"And this has nothing to do with you liking him and him actually being rude to you."

"It's about the business!" Harrison declares indignantly. 

"If that makes you feel better. Sure, we can start a rivalry."

"Good. Let's start with making the pastries they have but  _ better. _ "

***

That's where it starts. Drew makes Hal buy a wider range of pastries in response to Harrison. In retaliation, Harrison buys a fancier coffee machine and starts serving more drinks. Drew comes up with a "drink of the day". Harrison starts serving tea, and sets colourful jars of it behind the counter. Drew tries to bake his own cookies, but ends up throwing the lumps of coal he makes into the trash and doing an offer on the premade ones instead. 

They still see each other, though. Probably more often than would be expected - which Hal and Sam do their best not to acknowledge every time. The interactions are cold though, with chill smiles and smug questions about business. But they see each other, and try to ignore the still burning embers of affections they've buried deep inside themselves.

Hal and Sam see each other often too, but those are warmer meetings. They go for the promised drinks, and then for dinner, and coffee (out of the area they both work in). They laugh, and talk about anything under the stars, and what connects them grows. The first time they kiss is after a movie when their mouths taste of chocolate and overpriced soda, and the next week Hal falls asleep against Sam's shoulder after a night in. They don't tell Drew or Harrison, not yet at least. They talk about them though, about the rivalry and what that means. Eventually it's agreed that whatever Harrison and Drew have going on, it isn't nearly serious enough for them to be worrying about their loyalties, and the dates continue even as the war between coffee shops does. 

Hal asks Sam to be her girlfriend a month after the dates start, and then they're together as "Hal & Sam" more often than they're alone. 

It's hard for them not to laugh at their respective co-workers. They notice the faintly lingering fondness and the too-frequent meetings. 

"I just think they'd be good together." Hal says one day, with Sam's head laying in her lap. She runs a hand through Sam's dark curls, smiling softly down.

"Agreed." Sam answers, her eyes closing slowly.

"I don't know how they'd take it if we told them about us though." Hal says after a pause, her brow furrowing. Sam blinks her eyes open.

"What do you mean?"

"I want to talk to Drew about dates and how awesome you are. But I don't know if I can because he might get mad at me. Fraternising with the enemy and all that."

"I don't know if Harrison would love it either." Sam sits up, curling into Hal's side instead. "I want to tell him about you too."

"Maybe we should try and do something to stop the rivalry, then." Hal muses.

"It'd probably be better on them too." Sam adds.

"We might finally be able to convince them to admit their feelings for each other." Hal finishes, grinning.

"Well, we can do our best."

***

Neither of them really gets to do anything about it before the universe decides to do something about it for them. There's been rumours for a while, but finally a Starbucks moves into a building nearby Kaleidotrope Coffee and Sweet Serendipity. The customers start to dwindle, as they decide to opt for the convenience of plastic cups and cheap prices. It doesn't even take much prodding from Hal before Drew has swallowed his pride and walked to Harrison's shop with a cup of coffee in hand. It's the right kind too - Hal asked Sam but didn't tell Drew where she got the information from. 

The bell above the door rings slightly as Drew enters, and Harrison looks up with a brief moment of excitement before it falls into a blank mask. 

"Oh. You're here." 

"Yeah. I brought you coffee."

"Oh." Harrison looks surprised. Drew slides it over to him.

"Can we. Try to be nice to each other for a bit? I need to ask you something. Or request something?" Drew wavers, looking over at him. Harrison sighs, and calls Sam out of the back room.

"Could you man the front for a bit? I think we -" he waves between himself and Drew "- need to talk for a bit."

They end up sitting on opposite chairs in uncomfortable silence. Harrison finishes the coffee, and sets the cup down on the floor in front of him. 

"So what did you want to  _ request. _ " Harrison asks. Drew pauses for a moment, and then releases his thoughts in one breath.

"I think we should combine our shops." He says, all in a rush. "We can't win out over the Starbucks alone - they have everything and we only have one thing each. If we combine forces we could stay afloat."

"I...I think you're probably right." Harrison answers. Drew's eyebrows shoot up into his hair.

"I didn't think you'd agree so easily."

"Look, I still don't  _ like  _ you. But you make a good point, and if we work together we could at least have more time off. And the rent is cheaper." Harrison shrugs. "So, how do we want to do this logistically?"

***

The Kaleidotrope Coffee building is bigger, so they move into that one. It doesn't take that long, actually. There's four of them, so they spend a day moving furniture and Harrison's baking supplies. Harrison insists on adding some colour into the room, which Drew begrudgingly agrees to. Now that more people are working, they arrange a work rotation which gives them all a little more time off. It does mean Drew and Harrison end up working together some days, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. 

It's one of the days they all share, almost a month after the shops have merged, when Harrison and Drew finally find out about Hal and Sam. It's their lunch break, and Hal is sitting on one of the counters, swinging her legs and eating a sandwich. Sam is actually sitting at a table, but her eyes are fixed on Hal's face with a soft smile. Hal is waxing eloquent about a t.v. show she's watching, waving her hands (and her sandwich) aggressively. 

"And they just killed her off for  _ no  _ reason. Like why? Just because people didn't like her much? Her story was so unfinished there was so much more for her to go through!" Hal finishes, taking an indignant bite of her sandwich. Sam blinks, and then without thinking says:

"I love you." She realises what she's said, and looks surprised for a moment before committing. "I love how passionate you are, and how safe you make me feel, and that you think I can make it in sports even though I'm working in my friend's coffee shop at the moment." She stands up, walking up to the counter where Hal is perched. It takes Hal a moment to find her voice again.

"You beat me to it." She says finally, smiling softly. "I was trying to find a good moment, but I…didn't, I guess. I love you too, Sam. You're wonderful and sweet and you let me talk at you about things I care about." Hal rests her forehead against Sam's, smiling. Sam smiles back, and their lips brush together for a moment before the door opens and they spring apart like they've been caught doing something they shouldn't. Harrison stands in the doorway, holding an empty tray in his hands.

"Uh. I need some extra cookies?"

Drew and Harrison end up taking it quite well in the end, actually. They've somewhat given up on the charade of disliking each other now that they work together, so they offer congratulations and smiles. Hal and Sam go home together, hand in hand like they wanted, and the other two stay behind to clean tables. Nothing much changes, but it feels better now that they're not sneaking kisses in the back, or waiting until they're far away from the shop to start holding hands. 

Drew and Harrison are working together the next day. Neither Hal nor Sam is in today, so they have to work together this time.

"So Hal and Sam, huh?" Harrison asks, as he whisks egg whites and sugar together in a bowl.

"Yeah. I can't say that I didn't see it coming, honestly, but I didn't know that they were already...y'know. Together."

"They're a good couple." Harrison shrugs. "I'm happy for them."

"Oh, me too. I'm only sorry that they felt like they couldn't tell us." Drew responds absently.

"Why didn't they?" Harrison asks, putting the whisk down.

"...because our shops were rivals? And we hated each other?" Drew raises an eyebrow.

"Do we not hate each other anymore then?" Harrison answers. 

"We  _ work  _ together now. I think that'd be bad for business honestly. And I...don't think I really hated you that much to begin with."

"Me neither, not really." Harrison drums his fingertips on the counter. "I was offended when you were rude to me that first time, but otherwise you're kind of okay."

"Oh yeah. Sorry about that, actually. I think I felt kind of threatened by your business and you brought me samoas which just reminded me of how dumb I'd been the day before. Just. That was an unnecessary reaction, sorry."

"It's okay. Do you...not like samoas, though?"

"Not really. I kind of panicked the first time." Drew laughs a little. "Thank you...for the cookies, though. Hal really liked them."

Drew and Harrison don't really hate each other as much as they declared. That becomes clear quickly. Harrison makes Drew smile with his bright enthusiasm for everything, and his passion for baking. Drew finally lets it slip that he writes a blog Harrison knows about, and Harrison feels something inside him start to burn a little brighter. 

Hal and Sam notice, of course. They've spent most of this relationship knowing more about it than Harrison and Drew themselves. Hal nettles Drew about it, and Sam asks probing questions to Harrison. Neither of them wants to  _ do  _ anything about it, but the nettling and probing continues.

It's a few months before the Starbucks goes away, but they manage it eventually. Kaleidotrope & Serendipity does very well, with their fancy coffee and eccentric baked goods. Slowly, the building starts to look more like a combination, rather than Drew's shop with a few rainbow coloured coasters on the tables. Harrison replaces the plants, and changes the plates for nicely patterned ones. They reuse Harrison's sign, which Drew hates for a while but eventually resigns himself to.

They have a party, to celebrate their win. Harrison finds Drew sat on the steps in the street, holding a cup of coffee. Another one sits next to him, something scrawled on its side in black sharpie. 

"Hey." Harrison says, sitting down next to him.

"Thought you might be out soon. Made you coffee." Drew hands it over, avoiding his eyes. Harrison turns it over in his hands, until his eyes catch on the writing. 

"A phone number?" He asks.

"Mine." Drew answers, still staring out into the street. "If you, uh, wanted to use it." Harrison passes him a box without answering. It contains a cupcake with a rose iced onto it, and written in icing next to it is the phrase:

_ "Would you go out with me?" _

"Yeah." Drew breathes out into the night air, and Harrison laughs weakly.

"That's, uh, that's good then." He shifts a little closer and carefully lays his hand on top of Drew's.

They sit out there for a while longer, as cars whip by and the streetlights glow down softly. They'll move further later, but for now this is perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> I might write an epilogue to this but who knows


End file.
